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01 August, 2011

Here are the photos taken during the closing ceremony of the Verbal Craft training programme which I conducted for Edaran Berhad. This year-long training programme consisted of the following 5 modules:

1. The English Express I - Basic English

2. The English Express II - Intermediate English

3. The English Express III - Business Writing

4. Speak Right - English Pronunciation

5. Dare To Speak - Public Speaking and Presentation Skills programme

I spoke during the ceremony giving Datuk Bistamam - the company Chairman - an overview of the programme.

21 July, 2011

I conducted an Official Letter Writing Course for UPM on 20/7/2011. I thought there would be only 20 pax but I was surprised when 50 participants turned up. it was like a mini concert. 5 participants were former participants from who attended The English Express programs.

Puan Zuyati and Ari were the secretariats while Puan Rozi made the arrangements for the program.

Innovation seems to be a prime directive at almost any firm I run into, regardless of industry. How do you get more of it? In these tough times the answer is no longer to throw money at it. What we increasingly need is frugal innovation, what the Indians call Jugaad. It is an idea, whose time has come.

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of traveling to India with 30 McGill MBA and B.Com. students to meet with executives of a number of large companies in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore as part of the ongoing Hot Cities of the World Tour. The word Jugaad turned out to be the word of the trip. A word that I believe should be adopted by many firms in the West.

We first ran into the word in London enroute to Delhi. What would have otherwise been an unfortunate 15 hour layover at Heathrow on the way to India, was made quite enjoyable thanks to a few activities in London, including a visit to the offices of The Economist. We sat down with Adrian Wooldridge, Management Editor and Schumpeter Columnist, who had just returned from India and was glad to share some of his thoughts with us.

One of the hot topics: frugal innovation, the essence of which is captured by the Jugaad mindset, a Hindi word that in a nutshell refers to making do with what one has to solve one’s problems (also implying a certain degree of improvisation). In a business context it means bringing innovative products to market despite limited resources – if not thanks to limited resources, since it is the financial constraints of producers or customers (or both) that drive the innovation in the first place. Frugal innovation results in great value: no-frills, good quality, functional products that are also affordable to the customer with modest means. If you want to hear more of what Adrian said about frugal innovation, listen to the youtube video below. It is only a recording, there is nothing to watch due to technical problems.

Throughout the trip’s many discussions three examples of frugal innovation stood out. One that everyone has heard of is the Nano, unveiled by Tata Motors in 2008, which now retails for just over US$ 3,000. Equipped with only the bare essentials, the car is mainly aimed at the domestic market where it is not uncommon to see a family of four crowd onto a motorcycle or scooter. Though it is still too early to say whether the Nano will truly become “The People’s Car”, we were told that it problems with working on really hot days, it nonetheless provides a good example of frugal engineering.

New low-cost technology in healthcare also has everyone talking. For instance, GE, which operates tech centers in Hyderabad and Bangalore, has introduced breakthrough items such as an electrocardiogram in a backpack and a computer-based portable ultrasound machine. They sell for only US$ 1,000 and $15,000 respectively (fractions of the usual prices for those devices) and are said to have the potential to revolutionize access to healthcare in developing countries. These products are now also being sold in the US. Interestingly enough, frugal innovation reverses the historical notion that multinationals innovate in rich countries in order to sell their products in poor countries. Hats off to the late C.K. Prahalad and his book, The Fortune At the Bottom of the Pyramid.

Cover via Amazon

The concept of Jugaad, however, is not just about developing new technology. In fact, we witnessed firsthand the work of the Dabbawalas in Mumbai who demonstrated exactly that. The business model is simple: Dabbawalas collect freshly cooked meals in boxes from the homes of Mumbai residents and deliver them to the workplace for a (very) modest monthly fee (Dabbawala means “one who carries a box” in Marathi). What is not so simple is the delivery process. 5,000 Dabbawalas deliver 200,000 boxes per day using only bicycles and various modes of public transportation. Their supply chain is made up of a complex series of collection zones, sorting points, and delivery zones, supported only by an elaborate manual coding system. The codes are made up of only numbers and colors because 50% of the employees are illiterate. The only modern technology used in the process is are a website and a text message receiving system which allow customers to request deliveries in real time.Forbes Magazine awarded its Six Sigma certification in 2001 to the Dabbawalas based on a 99.999999 percent delivery accuracy rate (1 error for every 16 million transactions).

We spent over an hour at one of the sorting points observing the Dabbawalas, doing our best not to get in the way of the constant exchanges of packets between bicycles, a sort of controlled chaos (which we came to learn describes much of Indian city life). We recounted a few lessons that we took away from the experience. For one, frugal innovation goes beyond clever R&D. It has a lot to do with process – in this case, maximizing the efficiency of the supply chain. Second, sometimes less is indeed more. No fuel, no capital investment, almost no modern technology, and yet a high quality of service: that’s frugality at its best. And third, the circumstances of the operating environment matter a great deal when it comes to frugal innovation. One of the main reasons the Dabbawalas are so successful in Mumbai but haven’t yet expanded to other cities is that their system is built on a combination of characteristics that is unique to Mumbai.

A few days in Bangalore and Mysore allowed us to spend some time with two companies that are at the other end of the tech spectrum: Wipro and Infosys, two of India’s top IT companies. At Wipro, much of the discussion centered around cloud computing which, I must admit, was a indeed a little cloudy prior to this informative session. Cloud computing is frugal because it eliminates the need for expensive local storage on computers, and optimizes the use of remote data servers due to scale advantages.

But how is frugal innovation sustained? A tour of Infosys’s spectacular 335-acre campus in Mysore and a visit to its Leadership Institute made it clear to us that the company doesn’t leave that up to chance. Gone are the days when Indian IT companies could rely on their access to cheap labor to compete on price with foreign multinationals – the fact that IBM is now the second largest private sector employer in India is just one example of why. So the differentiating factor is quality of service, which must be upheld by constant innovation. Much of Infosys’ ability to continually innovate can be attributed to its emphasis on recruitment and training. The campus in Mysore alone produces 10,000 graduates every year while grooming another 500+ employees, chosen from offices around the world, to eventually hold senior leadership positions. Infosys has grown from 7 employees and US$ 250 in 1981 to a truly global company with over 130,000 employees and a market cap of over $US 35B today, so there must be something about its model that works.

How do we use frugal innovation back here in the West? Actually, I think we are doing a lot of it now but given where our economies are I believe we need to use it more. With one big airline that I am working with I am encouraging senior managers to adopt this approach.

The airline industry today simply does not have money to throw after their problems, if it ever did. There is still room for CEO led big hunkin’ transformational change. But I think the dominate route to corporate transformation is to allow a 1,000 flowers to bloom, fertilize the best and then when they have proven themselves in pilots, scale them up and spread the key few winning innovations across the organization. This connects middle managers that are close to the customers and the day-to-day work of the airline with the real business problems of today’s airline industry. As middle managers they have credibility and access to the senior executives who, correctly, control the purse strings. In my mind,Jugaad is a concept that appears to work in India and back here in the West.

This column was with written with a great deal of input from two McGill students who joined me on the trip to India this year, Veronica Dasovich from St. Paul, MN, one of our many wonderful U.S. students at McGill and Daniel Novak, a native Montrealer.

04 May, 2011

I conducted a 1-day presentation skills program for Time dotcom on 2 may, 2011. The training was conducted at Selangor hrdc in worldwide business centre. There were 9 participants in the program and i am happy to see the results.

28 April, 2011

I am not sure but this should be the 6th or 7th training program on presentation skills that i have conducted for IRDA on behalf of Maslow Trainers and Consultants.

This round the program was held at Mutiara Hotel JB on 17 and 18 April 2011. Although there were only 5 participants, the energy level was very high and all participants gained vital presentation skills. It was a very interactive and lively session.

I conducted the Dare To Speak Public Speaking Program on 15-16 April 2011. This training program was conducted for Edaran Bhd on behalf of Aqalivista Training. I found the 10 participants to be attentive and eager to learn public speaking skills from me.

I conducted the Dare To Speak Public Speaking Program on 15-16 April 2011. This training program was conducted for Edaran Bhd on behalf of Aqalivista Training. I found the 10 participants to be attentive and eager to learn public speaking skills from me.

I conducted the Dare To Speak Public Speaking Program on 15-16 April 2011. This training program was conducted for Edaran Bhd on behalf of Aqalivista Training. I found the 10 participants to be attentive and eager to learn public speaking skills from me.

I conducted the Dare To Speak Public Speaking Program on 15-16 April 2011. This training program was conducted for Edaran Bhd on behalf of Aqalivista Training. I found the 10 participants to be attentive and eager to learn public speaking skills from me.

I conducted a program called Speaking with confidence for workplace excellence. This was a 2-day presentation skills program organized by Elite Essential Sdn Bhd on 13 and 14 April 2011 at Shangri-La Putrajaya.

There were 10 participants from several organizations such as the Ministry of Health, Ministry of rural development, CIAST, Ministry of Finance and others.

10 April, 2011

Proficiency in English is vital in today's world and Malaysia needs to arrest the decline urgently if it wants to remain competitive.

IT used to be easy for Malaysian students in Britain to get a part-time job or internship there.

An Engineering lecturer at a local public university who only wants to be known as Mar recalls how it was back then.

“Mention you are Malaysian and you will get one foot in the door. I remember one manager saying, Ah, we like Malaysians. They can speak English well, have no problem understanding instructions, not like other foreign students.'

“In fact, we spoke better English then than most Europeans. But, of course, that was in the 1980s.”

It was a different story when she went back to the UK to do her postgraduate studies in the late 1990s, she says.

“My thesis supervisor kept moaning about how the new batch of Malaysian students could not write or speak English well. He kept asking me what happened.”

The declining standard of English among the young in Malaysia has been well documented. For many years, many concerned stakeholders from employers, educationists and linguists to parents have voiced their concern.

However, with English being an important language of knowledge and global competition now, the need to arrest this decline has never been more urgent.

He relates his experience as an external examiner for Utar for Economics and Accountancy.

“In the 1980s, the standard of English in most of the answer scripts was still good but in the 1990s, there was a marked decline, so much so the examiners agreed to only assess the facts and leave the writing style and grammar alone. If they had marked the language as well, many of the students would have had low marks.”

While the declining standard of English in the country can mainly be attributed to policies that have not emphasised it in the education system, what is surprising is the lack of interest among the young to master the language, notes Dr Fong.

“Students need to realise that when they go out into the world, English is important and unless they brush up their skills, they will lock themselves from a big source of information and the latest developments in knowledge.”

Recently, the Higher Education Ministry's plans to increase the number of credit hours in English on campus were met with opposition from some students.

At Universiti Malaya, a group of students even called vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Ghauth Jasmon a traitor for pushing for English and sent him a memorandum demanding for an apology and his resignation.

During his tenure as minister, says Dr Fong, the main complaint from employers was the standard of English among graduates.

This is confirmed by the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF).

“The communication problem among school leavers, especially in English either in oral communication or writing is the biggest grouse among employers,” says MEF executive director Shamsuddin Bardan.

Various surveys on graduates' employability have found that English is their main weakness: many cannot speak or write proper English (Higher Education Ministry Survey 2008; World Bank Report 2005 on Malaysia Firm Competitiveness, Investment Climate and Growth among others).

This, he believes, is one reason they have difficulty getting jobs in the private sector.

Highlighting the Salary Survey for Executives 2010, which showed good communication skills as the main attribute sought by employers (68%), Shamsuddin says employers preferred to hire staff who could communicate well in English as globalisation has changed the current nature of jobs.

Today's workers have to deal with foreign companies and clients from all over the world, where the main language of communication is English.

“Today, we are not just talking about being proficient. Work demands have changed; you need to sell your company's products.

“In the old days, if you didn't want to talk so much, you could take courses like engineering. You just needed to do your work without talking to people. Now, even if you become an engineer, you will need to talk to clients and normally the common language is English,” he adds.

Shamsuddin describes students who oppose the use of English as being in denial.

“They refuse to see the importance of being proficient in the language. Instead of embracing it, they are saying it is not important.”

Malcolm Poole, director of multinational recruitment agency MRI Network Sdn Bhd, says a large firm or multinational is definitely more likely to hire an individual with better English communication and written skills.

“Employers look for talented people who can grow with the company, so business-level English becomes not just a preference, it makes it a must-have,” Poole explains.

With English being widely used by the business community both in Malaysia and internationally, it is important for Malaysian workers to master the language, notes Melissa Norman, managing director of Kelly Services (M) Sdn Bhd, one of the top headhunter agencies in the country.

She highlights the Kelly Global Workforce Index survey released in 2010, which also revealed communication skills as one of the top five most desired skills within the corporate sector.

The ability to converse adeptly in English has become a valued asset in today's world, reinforcing the importance of mastering English, stresses Norman.

But, she laments, “In today's labour market, waning communication skills are among some of the unspoken concerns among employers.”

The agency has found that an average of six out of 10 Malaysian graduates could not communicate effectively in English during interviews, she says.

“We have encountered many graduates who cannot speak or write proper English. Many are not able to transfer their academic knowledge or articulate their thoughts during interviews due to poor command of English and this has cost them jobs in the corporate sector.”

Graduates here also commonly make gross grammatical errors in their resumes, and some even use text messaging slang in their job applications, Norman adds.

“In manufacturing, proficiency in English may not be as important as for someone working in the legal or financial field but we still need people who can communicate well because sometimes we need to send people out to negotiate deals and get contracts signed. If they cannot communicate well in English, we will lose out,” says Mustafa.

Unfortunately, many of the younger workers are not able to conduct a simple conversation in English, he laments.

“This leads to them having low confidence in using the language so they don't get involved in the discussions during meetings because they are afraid to talk.”

It makes them appear as “not as intelligent as they might be”, adds Dr Fong.

“Local employers complain that when our graduates attend interviews, meetings or conferences, they cannot put across their ideas, so they are made to look less smart when actually, knowledge-wise, they are comparable to any graduate from the rest of the world.”

Lacking in communication skills is no longer acceptable in today's world, Shamsuddin stresses.

“Basically, before the advent of the Internet and ICT, we (business community) communicated by letter. It took some time, so those who were not proficient in the language could ask someone who was more fluent to write their letters and notes.”

Now, correspondence is immediate, direct and fast. “So, you need to be proficient. If you cannot communicate in English, then possibly it will be some time before you can get a reply out and you will lose out in today's world.”

It is also essential for young workers to keep up with the latest developments in knowledge especially in science and technology, and unless they know another foreign language Mandarin, German, or Japanese for example the young need to know English, adds Shamsuddin.

“English is the language of knowledge as well as of the Internet. There is translation but it will take some time and before they can reach the targeted audience, the knowledge would have changed.”

More importantly, he adds, when employers recruit someone, they expect the new employee to hit the ground running and contribute straight away.

“They cannot afford to hire someone who is not able to communicate well. It is costly.”

Across the board

While the worry is over graduates and undergraduates, says FMM pastpresident Tan Sri Yong Poh Kon, there is an even bigger group that needs to be addressed.

“We need to be reminded that the vast majority of school leavers who are not equipped with a satisfactory level of competency in English enter the labour market and are mainly absorbed into the services, manufacturing and public sector, including as teachers of our young in schools.”

Yong, who is also co-chair of Pemudah (Special Taskforce to Facilitate Business), reminds that effective communication is crucial not only in the corporate and business world but also in the government sector.

Long a moot point, particularly for those in the diplomatic circle, the opening of borders due to the advent of technology means that more and more public sector workers need to interact as global citizens.

We need civil servants who can articulate Malaysia's stand on issues internationally, including conducting negotiations on important agreements such as trade agreements, says Yong.

“Civil servants today do not only need to interact with overseas customers, visiting experts or delegations but must also attend overseas conferences, seminars as well as trade and technical fairs, all of which are in English.

“Their low proficiency in English has affected Malaysia's ability to compete in global markets as well as a destination for investment,” argues Yong.

Mustafa agrees, saying: “We are losing out in the global arena. We definitely need more good communicators who can negotiate for better trade deals and investments. As it is, our global competitiveness is low.”

More worrying, says Dr Fong, is we are even losing out to our neighbours who seem to have improved their level of English in the last decade.

“Our representatives used to be first choice to head committees at international events. But I have noticed that at many international events I attended, representatives from Thailand, Indonesia and China are beating us as they speak better English.”

3. Paying more attention to elements of better pronunciation will also improve your pronunciation and adds style to your oral communication.

4. Speaking correctly will also make you stand head and shoulders above your peers and become outstanding.

Therefore, speaking with correct pronunciation has many benefits and advantages. I urge Malaysians to invest in their English Pronunciation by signing up for the Speak Right English Pronunciation Program organized by ProSkills Trainers www.ProSkillsTrainers.com

SUNDAY, AUGUST 22, 2010

Last weekends we met Captain Jack Sparrow, who has been given the responsibilities to change our negative perceptions towards the "English" language. Well done captain! English is no longer scary and difficult.